Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s messes at the Pentagon have apparently become so impossible to ignore that his own allies are now using the press to appeal to his senses.

At least that seems to be the message behind new reporting by Politico in which a source close to Hegseth implores him to make the most of “what time he has left” in the position. Six months in, he has racked up more scandals than any other member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, from sharing military plans in a Signal group chat to inviting Elon Musk to a Pentagon briefing on China, where he apparently should not have been, to forcing the White House to step in over excessive Pentagon lie-detector tests.

While the White House has repeatedly insisted Trump has “full confidence” in the former Fox News host — even after the Pentagon’s internal watchdog reportedly found damning evidence recently to contradict Hegseth’s claims that no classified intel was shared during Signalgate — things are apparently far more contentious behind the scenes.

For one, some unnamed White House officials are said to have privately questioned Hegseth’s leaking allegations against the top advisers he’d ousted in the spring, going so far as to ask for proof of his accusations from members of this team, who were unable to provide any. With two of his closest aides reportedly facing intense scrutiny in the ongoing Signalgate investigations, some of those in Hegseth’s inner circle fear his tenure will end badly unless he does something to stop what one described as the “crème de la crème of dysfunction” roiling the Pentagon.

“There’s going to be more shoes to drop all around,” that source was quoted saying.

Seeing the writing on the wall, Politico reports, several of Hegseth’s allies tried to stage an intervention to urge him to take steps that would appease Pentagon staffers who are furious over his treatment of the fired aides. Some are said to have demanded he issue a public apology to clear them of wrongdoing, while others floated a Friday-night statement that would exonerate the ex-staffers but otherwise attract little public attention.

“If there’s any chance at Pete resetting and ensuring that whatever time he has left in this position is well served, he’s got to do it — otherwise Pete is just doubling down on the lie,” one of his allies was quoted saying.

It seems unlikely he will take any such advice, however, given that his macho persona is what appealed to Trump in the first place, and the White House seems determined to keep dismissing negative reports about Hegseth as nothing more than “fake news.”

“The boss loves him — so it’s like, ‘We’ll make it work,’” one unnamed official was quoted saying.

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